AURORA | There is a crowded field looking to replace Doug Darr as Adams County sheriff.
On next month’s primary ballot, two Republicans and two Democrats are vying for their parties’ nomination.
On the Democratic side, Rick Reigenborn and Larry Medina are squaring off, while Mark Nicastle Mike McIntosh seeks the Republican nomination. The primary election is set for June 24.
For Aurora voters and local leaders, one of the bigger issues in the campaign will likely be Darr’s controversial cap on the number of inmates the jail will accept from municipal courts. The policy has angered city officials in Aurora and other municipalities around the county who say turning away inmates from municipal courts puts dangerous offenders on the street. Darr has said the inmates are the lowest level offenders and because the jail staff is already stretched too thin, those low-risk inmates are the ones who should be kept from the jail.
As it is with Aurora officials, the jail cap isn’t popular among the candidates for sheriff.
Nicastle, who ran against Darr and lost in 2010, said he will make sure the cap is lifted if he is elected.
“The doors will be open, it’s a simple as that,” he said.
Nicastle said crowding issues at the jail could be handled by having officials from the probation department, local courts and the jail work together to find ways to get the lowest-risk inmates into programs other than jail.
Nicastle said that if lifting the cap results in worsening jail crowding, he would get all the interested parties together and look for a solution.
“If we come down the road and realize there is an issue we can’t fix, then we’ll enter into a conversation with all of us,” he said.
McIntosh said the focus for the jail has to be on keeping dangerous criminals off the streets, whether they come from the municipal courts or not.
“Our goal has to be protecting those who are most vulnerable in our communities,” he said.
If he is elected, McIntosh said he would “immediately work toward removing the jail cap.”
Among the options that could alleviate crowding are more focus on supervised release programs, he said.
Reigenborn said he too opposes the cap. When voters around the county approved a new jail more than 20 years ago, Reigenborn said city voters expected the municipal courts to have all the access to it they need. The current cap goes back on that promise, he said.
“That wasn’t the agreement we made with the people 20 years ago when we built the jail,” he said.
Reigenborn said that if jail staffing issues made completely lifting the cap impossible, he would at least extend it beyond the current limit of 32 until a better solution could be worked out.
Medina could not be reached for comment as of press time.
Over the past year, the jail has turned away 130 inmates from Aurora Municipal Court, according to the city’s statistics. The inmates were serving time for shoplifting, failure to obey a lawful order, motor vehicle theft, driving without insurance and theft.
While none of the inmates released early because of the cap have been arrested for committing new crimes, John Leavitt, a spokesman for the city, said officials expect that they will.
“To the best of our knowledge, none of the released prisoners have been rearrested since their forced early release. However, we anticipate continued criminal behavior from habitual, repeat offenders,” he said in an email.